Improvement in buttons



f tant tzend WILLIAM W. WADE, OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

Letters .Patent No. 88,099, dated March 23,1869; antedatecl M11/rch 5,1869.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making pmx-t of thelame.

To all whom it ma/y concern.-

Be'it known that I, WILLIAM W. WADE, of Medford, in the county ofMiddlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certainImprovements in Buttons, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,making part of this specification, in which- Figure lis a perspectiveview, representing a flat circular plate cut from a sheet of metal.

Figure 2 is a view representing the said circular plate with its-outeredge turned up, and two slits, or openings 'cut near its centre.

Figure 3 is a section through a button with a back of my improvedconstruction.

Figure 4, detail, to be referred to.

My invention consists in making the back and eye of a button from oneand the same piece of metal, that is to say, a back of metal with itseye, or shank, struck up, or otherwise formed therefrom, incontradistinction to a back and eye made of separate pieces of metalsecured together.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand and use my invention,I will proceed to describe the manner in which I have carried it out.

A flat sheet of metal is passed under a series of punches, which cut itinto circular plates, A, Iig. 1.

These plates are then carried, in succession, upon a revolving table,and deposited in a horizontal position within the top of a female dieofthe required form.

f A circular forming-punch, with a male cutting-die enclosed, nowsimultaneously descends, the punch striking up the periphery, or outeredge of the circular plate, and holding it rmly in place, while thecntting-die makes therein twoA slits, a, of the form shown in iig. 4,and then turns them up, as seen in Iig. 2.

The forming-punch and male cuttingdie now withdraw together, carryingwith them the metal back until it is free from the female die, when thecutting-die recedes, to allow a pair of nippers to advance, and press orturn up the two inner edges, b, of the slits, or openings a, in theback, A, thus uniting the two edges up from a metal back, is more rigid,and not liable to v break, and the thread cannot pull out, as frequentlyhappens with the cloth back and eye.

The cloth back and eye are also objectionable, for the reason thata'hole has first to be. made through it by anawl, or needle, for thepassage .of the thread, whereas, by my improved construction, theopening for the thread is already made, and the thread may be y readilyentered without the employment ofthe awll or needle.

Again, my improvement possesses au advantage over the ordinarymetal-back button, where the back is in one piece, and the eye is in aseparate piece, (of wire, usually,) and connected thereto, as in such aback both ends of the thread must pass through the same hole in thework, in order to bring the back as near to and as parallel therewith asits construction will admit. It cannot, however, be brought close to thesurface ofthe work to which it is attached, owing to the distance of theeye from the back, whereas a back of my improved construction may hedrawn down snugly in contact with the work, thus giving a neater andmore `finished appearance, and therefore more desirable for upholstererspurposes.

C'lwlm.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, asan improvement in buttons, is-

A back, A, and eye, or shank, c, made in one and the -same piece ofmetal, by 'cutting and swaging up into proper form, substantially asdescribed.

WILLIAM W. WADE.

Witnesses:

N. W. STEARNS, W. J. OAMBRmGE.

